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Archiver > SOG-UK > 1998-11 > 0911081865-01


From: "Pickard Trepess - Hungary" <>
Subject: Re: [SOG-UK-L] Errors in British VRI?
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1998 23:17:45 +0100


Hi All,

Which all goes to show that you need to check all data back to the source
files, not rely on other's transcriptions.

Happy Hunting :-)
Pickard Trepess
www.hunimex.com/tree

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Archer <>
To: <>
Date: Thursday, November 12, 1998 8:24 PM
Subject: [SOG-UK-L] Errors in British VRI?

>I received my copy of the British Vital Records Index today, and couldn't
>resist trying it out straight away.
>
>An excellent database and superb value, but with some reservations:
>
>For a rare surname I'm researching I came across some names I
>recognised, some 18th parish register entries recorded as having taken
>place in Frindsbury, Kent - a parish near the Medway towns where I didn't
>previously have any associations. In fact the names looked so familiar
>that I checked my own PR extracts, and found that they actually belong
>to Dartford, not Frindsbury. I checked two more surnames for which I
>have Dartford PR extracts, and found exactly the same - all given on
>the VRI as being in Frindsbury. Everything else matches, i.e. dates are
>identical.
>
>So next I did a "Locality Search", and found that there are *some* entries
>shown for Dartford , tho' I can't verify if they are correct. However, I
>did notice
>something else rather strange: there are entries for dates that fall
>*outside* the date ranges given in the VRI for Dartford (these are all
>BT's). Dates quoted are 1718-20, 1744-65, 1801-12, etc., but in the VRI I
>noticed christenings in 1737, 1771, 1795 etc. Since the data is presented
>in name order, it's quite tricky to establish what's gone wrong.
>
>I did notice that the FHL Number for both Dartford & Frindsbury
>pre-1812 BT's are the same - 1469180, but this number also appears on
>several other Kent parishes.
>
>All in all, a bit worrying, just hope it's a one-off.
>Shades of the IGI perhaps....?
>
>Steve Archer
>Dartford, Kent
>
>______________________________

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